1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates generally to improvements in telecommunication systems and services. More particularly, the present invention relates to improved handling of incoming calls in telemarketing applications.
2. Description of Prior Art
In-bound telemarketing refers generally to the transaction of business by telephone, and typically involves a service provider capable of simultaneously handling a number of incoming calls. Exemplary in-bound telemarketing applications include airline, hotel and rental car reservation systems, credit card, banking and other financial service systems, and catalog ordering systems. The incoming calls are made by customers to, for example, an 800 number of the service provider, and the calls are directed using well-known techniques to one of a number of available agent terminals in the service provider facility. In most telemarketing applications, the incoming calls are processed serially without regard to the identity of a particular caller. In the event that all of the agents are busy, the caller may receive, for example, an automated message indicating that calls are processed in the order received, and that the caller should remain on the line to wait for the next available agent. The incoming call is then placed in a queue until an agent becomes available.
When a caller is connected to a particular agent, the caller often supplies the agent with information such as, for example, credit card numbers, desired travel dates, times and destinations, or sizes, colors and the like for products to be ordered. In addition, the caller may have a unique problem necessitating a lengthy explanation to the agent, such as complicated travel plans or incorrect billing on a credit card. If a caller is, for example, inadvertently disconnected during a call, the caller generally must reinitiate the call by redialing the service provider number. The reinitiated call is then processed as any other original call, and the caller may again be placed in a queue and assigned to the first available agent. When the caller is finally reconnected, it is often to an agent other than the agent which handled the original call. As a result, the caller has to begin the transaction over from scratch, and supply a different agent with the same information previously supplied to the first agent. A similar problem results if the caller realizes, just after intentionally hanging up, that important information was overlooked or some other mistake was made. Such an approach is inconvenient and inflexible, and may be a source of considerable aggravation to certain callers.
An alternative approach, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,587, involves storing a caller identification in a database with information relating the caller identification to one of a number of possible destination numbers. When an incoming call is received from a caller whose identification has been previously determined and stored, the call is automatically directed to the corresponding destination number. As a result, certain customers for which stored records have been previously established may be assigned a higher priority in receiving service, or may always be connected to the same agent. However, most telemarketing applications receive a substantial number of their calls from unknown callers, many of whom may have had little or no previous contact with the service provider and therefore do not have an established customer record. U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,587 thus does not disclose techniques for efficiently handling calls from many, if not most, of the callers in a given telemarketing application.
As is apparent from the above, a need exists for efficient call handling in a telecommunication system, which does not treat reinitiated calls from disconnected callers the same as any other incoming call, and which does not require a previously-established customer record to provide service priority or direct a reinitiated call to an appropriate agent.